Aleppo, Syria: a cultural guide

The Citadel and its moat and ramparts have recently been restoredPhoto: Alamy

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The souk is the hub of the old city and has been since Aleppo was a major stopover on the Silk RoadPhoto: Alamy

By Gail Simmons

11:58AM GMT 08 Feb 2011

The sun slides behind the domes and minarets of Aleppo as Isettle into a battered leather armchair in the bar of the Baron Hotel. Like the armchair, this early colonial building in the city's European quarter has seen better days. I'm told it was once possible to shoot game from the hotel balcony, though it's now surrounded by the suburbs of Syria's second city.

But step through the door and not much has changed since Lawrence of Arabia left without paying his bar bill, or since Agatha Christie, accompanying her archaeologist husband, stayed here in the Thirties and was inspired to write Murder on the Orient Express.

This was when Aleppo was firmly on the grand tour of every self-respecting European orientalist. Now, the visitors are returning and some, like myself, return more than once.

On every visit, like the archaeologists before me, I discover another layer in Aleppo's rich seam of history. This time I learn the legend of Abraham, who stopped to milk his cattle here, distributing the milk (halib) to Aleppo's citizens, so giving the city its Arabic name: Haleb.

And although much of Aleppo's physical archaeology still lies buried under the present city, I sense the sheer antiquity of the place as I wander its maze of narrow lanes and plunge into the labyrinthine shadows of the longest covered souk in the Middle East: several miles of avenues linking mosques, madrasas, hammams and caravanserais.

This is where I always head when Aleppo's heat gets too much, enjoying the throng and savouring the fragrance of spices, perfumes and – Aleppo's speciality – the bay leaf oil soap that has been handmade in this city for a thousand years. I always get hopelessly lost, but that is part of the joy of Aleppo.

The souk is the hub of the old city and has been since Aleppo was a major stopover on the Silk Road, attracting Arabs, Circassians, Armenians and Kurds, who've lived, traded and worshipped here for centuries.

Even today some 30 per cent of Aleppo's population is Christian. Most reside in the Jdeideh quarter, home to some of the city's best restaurants, many of which serve Syrian or Lebanese beers and wines.

Near one entrance to the souk I stumble upon the Great Mosque, founded in the eighth century on the site of a Byzantine church and an earlier Roman temple. In its paved courtyard I watch families picnic, while in the mosque pilgrims sit quietly reading or pay their respects at the shrine of Zachariah, father of John the Baptist.

When I finally rediscover my bearings I aim for the towering Citadel, one of the medieval wonders of the Middle East.

Set on a fortified mound and reached by a vast arched bridge, the Citadel and its moat and ramparts have recently been restored, and the area around it pedestrianised and laid out with pavement cafés.